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Highlights from Sebastian Kurz's Keynote Speech on EU-Israel Relations and Jewish Life in Europe
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UNRWA is an Obstacle to Peace
Foreign policy pundits were quick to declare U.S. President Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan dead on arrival. Whatever its shortcomings, the roadmap shines a much-needed light on the self-perpetuating Palestinian refugee problem embodied in UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Writing in New Europe, AJC Transatlantic Institute Deputy Director Michael Sieveking argues that Europe can play an important role in reforming the troubled body.
Rebuilding Jewish Life in Egypt
Egypt’s once vibrant Jewish community all but left the country decades ago, most of them by force. Earlier this year the 14th century Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in Alexandria was re-opened after Egypt invested some five million dollars in refurbishing the building. Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC’s Director for International Jewish Affairs, reflects in The Times of Israel on the synagogue’s potential to showcase the history and tradition of Jewish life in Egypt and help educate a new generation of Egyptian youth about the value of pluralism and diversity.
AJC Calls on EU to Investigate Belgium for Antisemitic Parade
Brussels, 23 February 2020 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute condemned today’s antisemitic Aalst carnival parade which was allowed to occur unhindered by Belgian authorities. AJC urged Belgian and European Union leaders to condemn the costumes and called on the EU to investigate Belgium....
AJC Calls on Belgium to Stop Antisemitic Carnival in Aalst
Brussels, 21 February 2020 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute called on Belgian authorities to prohibit the organizers of the Aalst carnival from displaying antisemitic floats at this Sunday’s parade.
Last year, the puppets parading through the Flemish city displayed Nazi-era...
How Can Europe Help the Iranian People?
During last December’s crackdown of protests in Iran, the regime killed up to 1,500 people and imprisoned over 7,000. To discuss Europe’s reaction to the dramatic events and the Iranian people’s quest for change, Counterpoint host Daniel Schwammenthal is joined by Polish Member of the European Parliament Anna Fotyga and Middle East Analyst Mohsen Behzad Karimi.
Islamist Antisemitism Spikes in France
Writing in the French daily Le Figaro, AJC Paris director Anne-Sophie Sebban-Bécache and Fondapol‘s head of research Victor Delage write that the AJC-Fondapol survey shows that “extreme right-wing antisemitism has not disappeared and antisemitism on the extreme left has resurfaced over the last 20 years or so, but it is Islamist antisemitism that is asserting itself most forcefully.”
AJC CEO David Harris on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, AJC CEO David Harris gave a stirring speech to some 150 EU officials, Members of the European Parliament, diplomats, and civil society representatives. David Harris, who is himself the son of Holocaust survivors, shared his own family’s painful history, highlighted the importance of remembering the past, and underlined the need to protect Jewish life, whether in the diaspora or in a thriving Israel.
Powerful Holocaust Remembrance Speech by Vice President Schinas
EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas delivered a powerful keynote address at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event co-organized by the AJC Transatlantic Institute. Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz, Vice President Schinas underlined Europe’s collective duty of remembering the past and fighting the current resurgence of antisemitism, including by implementing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition.
Historic Jewish-Muslim Visit to Auschwitz
On the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Mecca-based Muslim World League Secretary General Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa and AJC CEO David Harris led a groundbreaking joint visit of Muslims and Jews to Auschwitz. With 62 Muslims, including 25 prominent religious leaders from some 28 countries, the mission brought the most senior Islamic leadership delegation to ever visit a Nazi German death camp. Following a memorial prayer for the dead, Dr. Al-Issa said: “To be here, among the children of Holocaust survivors and members of the Jewish and Islamic communities, is both a sacred duty and a profound honor."
Remarks by H.E. Georgios Lakkotrypis, Minister for Energy, Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Cyprus
Hosted by the AJC Transatlantic Institute and the Hanns Seidel Foundation, H.E. Georgios Lakkotrypis, Minister for Energy, Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Cyprus, spoke to a select audience of Ambassadors, EU diplomats, and journalists. Below is the transcript of his remarks: ...